The rating system for motion pictures in use in the United States has proven workable.
The ratings are not absolute guarantees and parental responsibility is still required,
but they are pretty good guides as to what you can expect from movies with different
ratings.

I see these domains as serving a similar purpose.

There are currently
millions of web sites that contain content of all types, some of it suitable for
kids and some not. Establishing these domains will at least give some guidance
as to content that we now lack.

And in that regard, they should be for material
that is clearly within the bounds of the category. Yes, there are different
standards in different countries. But I doubt that anyone will be the least
bit confused as to what should go on .sex and .xxx. That one will police itself,
I think. Because anyone dumb enough to put tame stuff in domains like that
will likely go broke if they are hoping to attract subscribers by setting up shop
in those domains.

.kids might become a gray area if it is abused by people intent
on creating trouble by constantly testing the edges of "acceptability." But
with cooperation, this could become a workable guide for parents of places they can
let the kids roam with little worry.

And here is where these domains will be better
than the movie ratings. If anyone can't get a .kids domain because of questionable
content, then they can post the exact same material on a .com site. In the
movies, you don't get your movie out without a rating and you sometimes have to change
the content if you want a certain rating.

The Internet is such a vast system that
nobody's free speech rights are going to be violated by establishing domains which
restrict themselves to certain types of content. Just the opposite. Opening
up these new domains will give us more choices, more opportunities for freedom of
expression.

L FarnyLos Angeles

P.S. Why is it that these free speech
controversies usually seem to center around sex? I don't see anyone complaining
that .web is going to restrict the free speech of fiber optics advocates by restricting
content to material about wireless applications. If I were more suspicious,
I might consider that some people are trying to pervert one of our fundamental freedoms
into a tool to promote immorality. Could it be?